Wintergreen Pillow

I first met Tara Curtis of WEFTY a little less than a year ago at Quilt Expo in Madison. The fabric weaving technique she demonstrated were amazing, so I purchased a WEFTY right then and there. But then, it just sat there. I kept meaning to try it, but having to get a foam board and mark it, having to prepare fabric strips, and having to learn the weaving technique all became barriers that I just didn't want to cross.

But when my quilt guild invited Tara to teach her WEFTY needle technique, I jumped at the chance to sign up. I knew that taking a class with her in person was just the ticket to get me started on this really cool technique.

The night before the class, I finally did my fabric pulls and I chose 3 coordinating fabrics from Blithe by Katarina Roccella. It was a wintery collection, yet it didn't feel overly seasonal, which I love.

When I got to class the next day, Tara had us describe how we were feeling. I said I was ecstatic, and I really was. I was so excited to finally learn this technique! WEFTY weaving was incredibly fun and so satisfying. It was magical to watch everything come together, and even though sometimes I made mistakes, they were easily fixable.

I didn't want to steam the foam board so that it would last a bit longer, so instead of ironing the fabric strips to the fusible interfacing beneath, I took a friend's advice and used painter's tape to secure the edges before removing the pins. It worked like a charm! I was faced with a beautiful panel to do anything with, but I decided the panel was the perfect size for a pillow.

Now that I've gotten my first taste of WEFTY weaving, I'm excited to try some more!